


Omens

by tipsyTabellion



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-04-06 22:32:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19072018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tipsyTabellion/pseuds/tipsyTabellion
Summary: Amortentia- The Most Powerful Love Potion in the world. It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive.When Leo smells what is most decidedly Calypso in the Amortentia, he begins to despair. Calypso is convinced the potion failed because all she smelled was Leo. AKA: the Harry Potter AU that absolutely no one asked for.





	1. LEO

**Author's Note:**

> because there is entirely not enough caleo on this website. this one is for you, calypso, you absolutely deserve better from the fandom.

LEO

**Later, Leo would blame it all that dumb potions class**. Potions was the source of all of his problems. Taught in the stifling dungeons by the school’s most infamous Potions Mistress in Hogwarts history, Professor Circe, the class was agonizingly difficult and the work was hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable. Leo was no stranger to hard work, of course. But the sickly sweet aroma of potions brewing and the darkness of the dungeons made him wish that he’d never taken the class in the first place. 

But, of course, there was one bright spot of taking such a class, and that was the fact that his potions partner was Calypso. She was one of his best friends ever since their second year. At first, she’d despised him because of that  _ one time _ in charms when he’d accidentally blown up their feather while learning the levitation spell and the explosion had singed off her eyebrows. It didn’t help that in their second year, they’d both become seekers for their respective Quidditch teams, placing them in natural rivalry positions. But as their friend groups had interwoven, they found that they didn’t really dislike each other at all. 

Their friendship had been blossoming for years. Leo loved working with her in classes, not just because she often did most of the work, but also because they liked talking about their classmates and joking around about the professors. They had so many inside jokes about Professor Circe alone that he could fill a book with them. She had a dry sense of humor, the perfect foil to his dumb bizarre jokes.

Potions last year had been a nightmare. Leo was paired with Reyna, and the partnership had almost ruined their friendship. He was relieved to be working with Calypso, and they were something of a dream team in the class. Though Leo found Potions dreadfully boring, Calypso had a way of making the class fun. They’d done Felix Felicis, an Invigoration Draught (the smallest whiff of this one had had Leo bouncing off the walls for days), and Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, and now, they were working on one of the most difficult potions of all: Amortentia. 

They’d been brewing the Amortentia for several weeks, and today was the day that they’d finally finish it. Leo was relieved. He was severely ADHD, and magical studies like Divination, Herbology, and yes, Potions, required more self-control than Leo had. While Calypso patiently stirred clockwise or counter-clockwise so many times or dispersed power in small increments over an excruciatingly long period of time, Leo took up tasks like chopping and crushing and pouring. It was a good balance. 

He watched as she stirred in the final dose of powdered moonstone. Her caramel colored hair was swept into a braid at the base of her neck, though a few strands hung down in front of her face. Her bangs were getting long and obscured her cinnamon eyes. There was a sheen of sweat forming on her upper lip, and she pressed her lips together in concentration. The light emanating from the potion cast her soft features in a rosy glow, and his breath caught in the back of his throat. 

That was the other thing. Though he’d been trying to deny it for almost a year now, Leo had an excruciating crush on Calypso. It was frustrating for a number of reasons.

  1. They were _friends_. He hated breaking their trust by pining after her, memorizing all the little details about her that made her so lovely, like the smattering of freckles that adorned her nose and cheeks, or the way she pressed her tongue between her lips at the corner of her mouth when she was intensely focused on something, or the spark in her eyes as she talked about something she really cared about, like Herbology. He had to stop noticing those things as soon as possible because he didn’t want to scare her away and lose their friendship.
  2. He wasn’t exactly her type. They’d been friends for a long time, and he’d been at her side through all of her past relationships. The guys she liked were usually broad, charming Gryffindors who were older than her. First had been Odysseus in fourth year, who’d dumped her when he graduated so that he could return to his muggle girlfriend, Penelope. Then had been Drake in fifth year, who’d been cheating on her with some Hufflepuff seventh year. Last had been Percy, which hadn’t even been a real relationship. They’d only dated, never making it official, and it only lasted for a month, while Annabeth was with Luke Castellan. They’d decided that they were better off as friends, which was true, but it still stung Calypso when Percy and Annabeth ended up together at the end of sixth year.
  3. She was out of his league, plain and simple. She was a goddess, with her gentle beauty, long firewhiskey colored hair, and kind-hearted attitude. She deserved a heroic-type, not some scrawny Ravenclaw who was all sharp elbows and gangly limbs. Though Leo prided himself on his growth spurt (being shorter than Calypso for such a long time had really worn at his self-esteem, he was now about a head taller than her) he hadn’t really experienced much in the way of bulking up. Leo had watched Jason, Percy, and even Frank morph from awkward chubby pre-teens into muscular Adonises, and Leo hadn’t gained any weight since he was about 12 years old. 



So he earnestly pined for someone he could never even hope to have and waited for this agonizing crush to go away. 

“You alright?” she checked, snapping him out of his reverie. He realized he’d been staring. He started fiddling with his wand, which was so worn that the Unicorn hair was sticking out of the end. 

“Just bored, Sunshine. We almost done?”

Her eyes glinted in the dim light of the lanterns. “I believe we are. Just have to stir counterclockwise three times with a pewter stirring stick...” she muttered, reviewing her book which was open on the table. He examined the instructions and passed her the stir stick, and as she stirred, a delightful aroma started wafting from the potion. He smelled cinnamon, of course, Calypso’s perfume, and jasmine and peach, like the plants that grew around the greenhouses. He also smelled beef stew, the beef stew from the Christmas feasts, and grass, like that from the quidditch pitch. With a start, Leo realized that these smells were ones that he associated with Calypso. He connected the dots with a growing sense of dread.

Calypso was gifted in Herbology and loved helping Professor Demeter to tend to all the plants, magical or otherwise. She especially had a soft spot for flowers, and grew jasmine, mock orange, lilies, and honeysuckle, often even tucking the fragant blossoms behind her ears. 

The Christmas feast was the only time they actually ate dinner together, being from different houses. There were usually so few students that stayed at Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday that everyone, staff and students alike, sat at one table together. They liked popping Christmas crackers together and trying on all of the fun hats and playing with all the little trinkets over large, steaming bowls of beef stew. 

And the grass... they were both Quidditch players. 

Amortentia didn’t lie or make mistakes. The potion smelled like the things you loved the most. And though he’d known for a long time, this confirmed his worst fears. Leo was in love with Calypso.

He felt like he was going to be sick. 

“Did it work?” she muttered, and he shrugged casually, trying to play it off. Suddenly, Calypso stepped away from him, her expression playful.  “Gods, Leo, try and tone it down with the cologne next time.” she joked, poking a finger into his side. He smiled weakly. 

“Just can’t help it. Gotta catch the ladies somehow, and my stunning good looks don’t seem to be doing the trick.” 

She giggled.

As they bottled their potion for Professor Circe and packed up their things, Leo was giving himself an extremely harsh mental beating for being stupid enough to fall in love with Calypso. She was one of the smartest and most compassionate people he knew, not to mention her startling beauty, and he was... yeah. He almost asked her what she’d smelled in the Amortentia (probably bodybuilder sweat) when he was struck by a second, more life-changing revelation.

He hadn’t put on cologne that morning. 

As they walked out of the classroom together and started traipsing toward the Great Hall, he couldn’t hear a single word she was saying. What did it mean? He didn’t want to let himself hope but, he knew that he definitely hadn’t put on any cologne that morning. In fact, he’d overslept so late that he barely had time to shower and grab a bit of toast before he had to go to Transfiguration. So if she was smelling something that wasn’t there... could it mean...

“... we’ll just have to accept the bad grade. Hopefully, the essay will... Leo? Are you listening?”

“What?”

“I said, that since the potion didn’t work, we’ll have to make up for it by making our essays especially thorough. What is with you today? Am I that boring?”

He stifled a scoff. She could never bore him. 

“Sorry, Sunshine. Got a lot on my mind.”

“How’s your Muggle Studies project going?” she asked as they descended down the stone staircase. “I would have thought that you would have finished working on those muggle au-to-mo-biles a long time ago.” She had to pronounce  _ automobile  _ slowly. As a pureblood, muggle concepts bewildered her, though she always tried to understand his interest in muggle machines. In his Muggle Studies course, they’d done a unit about cars and other machines, where they took them apart and put them back together again to understand how they worked. Leo had thoroughly enjoyed this, working overtime on his special project with Professor Hephaestus: enchanting a car to be able to fly. 

“Oh yeah, we finished those ages ago. It sucks because that was actually interesting, and now we’re onto muggle politics and that’s just really excruciatingly bor- wait why?”

“Because you smell like machine oil, Valdez. And smoke. You’re not blowing stuff up again, are you?” she laughed, and he almost fell down the rest of the stairs. Unfortunately, he hadn’t worked on the car in over a month, since Headmaster Zeus had forbidden him from tinkering with the car because it was “against the law.” And it had been forever since he’d blown anything up, accidentally or on purpose. He didn’t want to draw any conclusions, but it definitely seemed like Calypso had smelled, well, him in the Amortentia. 

“Yeah,” he said, then kicked himself. “I mean, no, not recently. We had to stop working on the car ages ago because it was a violation of some Misuse of Muggle Artifacts bylaw or something.”

Calypso frowned. “Huh.”

Leo was smart. He was a Ravenclaw, after all. As much as he wanted to shout, “YOU SMELLED ME IN THAT POTION, YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH ME, OR AT LEAST ENTERTAINING THE IDEA OF BEING IN LOVE WITH ME,” as loud as possible in the middle of the Great Hall, he knew that Calypso needed to realize things on her own. She’d clearly smelled him in the potion and was attempting to rationalize it. His cologne was an easy one, but she should have known that he was done with the car, and the explosions, a long time ago. All he could do was make loving him seem like the most rational conclusion. 

No small feat. 

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you in Charms tomorrow,” she said, distracted. He’d planted the seed, and now he just hoped that she would figure things out soon. Hopefully sometime before the end of seventh year. 

“Okay. And Calypso?” he added before she could disappear to the Gryffindor table. 

“Yes?”

“I just remembered. I didn’t put on cologne this morning. Weird, right?”

And before he could enjoy the look on her face, he whirled around and sat down across from Annabeth at the Ravenclaw table. For the first time in over a year, he had some small glimmer of hope. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it. Big shoutout to Lola Kirke, whose song "Omens" is the soundtrack to this fic and to Caleo in general. Give it a listen while you read this if you want to. It was hugely inspirational.
> 
> I made Leo and Calypso Seekers because in the books, they're both seeking something outside of their fates. Also the image of Calypso in quidditch robes was just... too tempting. My chaotic bi side took over, what can I say?
> 
> Please please drop a comment. Aside from the fact that I am a slut for validation, I can't write more if I feel like no one is reading.


	2. CALYPSO

CALYPSO

After a long day, Calypso liked to sink into a dangerously hot bath and soak away all of her worries and stresses, like they were escaping in the steam curling off of the water. Unfortunately, as she sat sweating in her tub in Gryffindor tower, the bath wasn’t doing its usual magic. And she had one person to blame: Leo Valdez.

She couldn’t stop thinking about their failed Amortentia. She had been so disappointed when, after all of their hard work, carefully following the painstakingly detailed instructions and slaving away over a hot cauldron for weeks, the potion had turned out to be a dud. She'd turned her nose toward the steam spiraling off of the potion, expecting to smell the olive oil from Odysseus’ hometown, or the snapdragons that Drake frequently gifted her with, or perhaps even the salty sea smell she associated with Percy Jackson. But all she smelled was Leo, who was sitting next to her, drumming his fingers on the table as usual. She tried to be a good sport about it, mentioning to her very distracted companion that they might be able to compensate for the failed potion by working very hard on their essays. But there was something nagging at the back of her mind. Something that was way too scary to face. Something that was  _ too much _ for a Tuesday. 

The truth was, it wasn’t just Leo’s cheap cologne, or the machine oil, or the smoke. These were smells that Leo carried around a lot. There had been one last smell on him, one associated with such a strong memory that she didn’t want to let herself think about it. Unfortunately, just as she’d decided not to think about it, her mind was already replaying the events of almost a year ago, at Christmas. 

They’d spent a lovely Christmas morning together in the Gryffindor common room, along with Jason and Thalia, twins from Gryffindor house, Frank and Hazel, an adorable couple both from Hufflepuff, and Nico diAngelo, Hazel’s younger brother who was in Slytherin. They’d been opening their presents from their friends and drinking hot chocolate in their pajamas for a few hours, and that was when Thalia suggested that everyone regroup outside for a snowball fight. Thalia and Jason had raced up to their rooms and Hazel and Frank had gone out to change back in the Hufflepuff common room. Calypso had been about to go up to her room to change when Leo slipped something into Calypso's hand, a small parcel wrapped haphazardly in green tissue paper. 

“Merry Christmas,” Leo had muttered. She grinned widely. 

“What is it?”

“You’ll have to open it and find out, Sunshine!” he’d said, and she tore open the wrapping paper to find a bottle of Tabasco sauce sitting in her lap. Leo fidgeted with a little trinket in his hands. “You liked my  _ abuela’s  _ tacos so much when you came over for dinner that night before we went to King’s Cross. I just thought... it would be nice. For you to have your very own bottle of Tabasco. For flavoring things.” he looked so sheepish that Calypso couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s great, Leo. Thank you.” they’d hugged, and Calypso had felt a small tugging in her heart, a warm feeling starting to pool in her stomach. But the next week Leo had started seeing Khione, a dangerously beautiful seventh year from Slytherin, and Calypso’s small dalliance with Percy came not long after that. So she’d shelved those feelings all the way in the back of her mind in a box marked “Do not open, Highly dangerous and complicated.”

Until today, when that box’s contents had very suddenly been spilled and she was reeling. Of course she liked Leo, she appreciated his friendship, she enjoyed spending time together- walking the streets of Hogsmeade arm in arm, sneaking out in the middle of the night to visit the astronomy tower together, getting jealous when he talked about other girls and feeling special when he blew them off to hang out with her (it hadn’t happened many times, but once was enough.) And the potion...

She’d smelled the unmistakable scent of Tabasco sauce in the potion. He hadn't been working with machines lately. And he hadn't been wearing cologne. There was no getting around it, Calypso had smelled Leo Valdez in her Amortentia. It wasn’t a failed potion, it showed her exactly what she was most afraid of. 

She couldn’t ever be with Leo. Aside from the fact that he wasn’t normally her type (this wasn’t the problem for her), she was also overtaken with panic at the thought of losing someone again. When Calypso fell for someone, she usually fell hard and fast and scared away whomever it was that she’d been stupid enough to trust. 

First had been Odysseus, her first heartbreak, who’d told her when he graduated that he needed to pursue something serious and wanted to go propose to his muggle girlfriend back home. She’d been young at the time, too young to even begin to consider marriage, but his betrayal had stung. She and Leo wrote letters back and forth daily during that summer, him sending her chocolate frogs and taking cracks at Odysseus, her nihilistically responding with the type of overdramatic despair that could only come from a 15-year-old girl. 

Next had been Drake. This one had hurt a lot. It felt perfect, at the time. He brought her flowers almost every day, he planned romantic dates for them and liked to write her poems and songs, and she always appreciated them even though they were terrible. About three months in she found out that he’d been cheating on her, and when she confronted him, he’d blamed her, saying that she was too clingy and he couldn’t handle how stifling she’d been. She and Leo liked to read all his lame poetry and make fun of the poorly crafted words. Without him, there was no way he would have been able to work through it. 

And Percy. Gods, she’d never been so disappointed. She’d held a candle for him for some time, holding out hope that he’d grow out of his childhood crush on Annabeth and finally see what was right in front of him. When Annabeth started dating Luke, Percy and Calypso had gotten really close. All their other friends were wrapped up in their own issues; Leo was busy with Khione, Thalia with Reyna, Grover with Juniper, Piper with Jason; so it was natural that they started their own thing. They never labeled it. Calypso was still too afraid to give it her all after what had happened with Drake, and Percy was clearly still in love with Annabeth. Eventually, they parted as friends, deciding that neither of them was really invested, but Calypso had wondered what might have been if the timing were different.

Now Calypso was overwhelmed with her feelings for Leo, feelings she’d never allowed herself to touch. Something about her pushed others away, made them run for hills. Leo was one of her closest and oldest friends. Their friendship was so important to her, she couldn’t stand it if he tossed her away like all the others, like a broken machine part. She was terrified of losing him, of ruining what they had with her silly infatuation. She’d always been comfortable with him, but now she didn’t know how to act around him. How could she face him tomorrow, knowing that their friendship was doomed and it was her fault?

Calypso submerged her head beneath the water of the bath, wondering vaguely if she could just drown here and never have to face him. 

He would be shocked if she told him how she felt, no doubt. He’d probably politely turn her down, insisting on remaining friends. Then the awkwardness of the situation would force them to grow apart. Or they’d briefly date before he realized that he’d confused platonic feelings for romantic ones. Either way, there was no way that this could work out. She was just... unlovable. 

She emerged from the water, coughing. Unfortunately, her drowning plan hadn’t worked out. Stupid survival instincts. When she rubbed the water out of her eyes, she looked over and saw that Rachel was brushing her teeth at the sink. 

“Hey,” Rachel said, smirking. “If you’re trying to drown yourself because of that Transfiguration essay, don’t. I just found this book that has all the answers.”

“No,” Calypso replied uneasily. “It’s not that.”

“Uh oh!” Rachel spat her toothpaste into the sink and rinsed off her toothbrush. “I know that look.”

“What look?”

Rachel came over and sat on the bathmat, crossing her legs and leaning back against the wall. “The I-Just-Fell-For-Someone-And-Everything-Is-Going-To-Shit look.”

“I do not have a I-Just-Fell-For-Someone-And-Everything-Is-Going-To-Shit look,” Calypso replied, disgruntled. She examined her pruney fingers in the tub. The water had gotten a little cold. 

“Yes, you do. Who is it this time?”

Calypso sighed. Rachel had a way of finding things out, whether you wanted her to or not. She was all-knowing, possessing the gift of Sight, which made her very annoying to work with in Divination. 

So Calypso explained the Amortentia situation to her, how helpless she felt, and how worried she was about losing Leo. Rachel sat listening contemplatively, and when Calypso finished, she started laughing. She threw her head back, giggling like an insane person. Calypso glared.

“I’m glad you find my suffering amusing, Dare.”

Rachel wiped a tear away from her eye, still chuckling. “This is classic, dude. Your timing is fucking abysmal.”

“I know. I wish I could just... snap... and all the feelings would go away. Like a  _ scourgify  _ spell.”

Rachel gave her a significant look.

“Come on, Calypso. Leo liked you for like, forever. Especially last year. But then he started dating Khione and now... I don’t know. You couldn’t have realized this a year ago?”

“That’s ridiculous. We’re just friends. He would never... he could never see me like that. And besides, he would just get tired of me, anyway.”

“If there’s one thing I know about Leo Valdez,” Rachel said, waving her hand dismissively, “It’s that he’s not one to give up. I don’t know if he has feelings for you anymore. I wouldn’t rule out the idea entirely. But even if he didn’t, Calypso, I don’t think you’re getting rid of him so easily.”

Calypso groaned. “How can you not know? You know everything!”

“Some things are unclear to me. The gift of Sight is... fickle.” Rachel spread her hands out over her legs. “But I don’t need Sight to know that you’re very special to Leo. I would be honest with him.”

“But...” Calypso chose her words, “But, I always push people away. No one stays for long. I can’t lose Leo. I’m just never enough to keep people around.”

Rachel winced. “You’ve had a hard go of it. But Leo isn’t like the others. In any way, shape or form. He definitely breaks your patterns. Maybe he’ll surprise you. Plus, I’m still around! And all of our other friends. You need to stop beating yourself up over some assholes who couldn’t see how amazing you are.”

Calypso shivered in the lukewarm bathwater. 

“Thanks, Rachel. I just... I need to think about it.”

“Sure,” Rachel responded, and then leaned back against the wall again, closing her eyes. Calypso frowned. 

“Uh, Rach?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you... get out so I can dry off?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment please and thank you!


	3. LEO

LEO

Leo was pretty sure that Calypso was avoiding him. Or trying to avoid him. That morning at Breakfast, he’d waved to her as she sat down at the Gryffindor table. They’d met eyes, and his face split into a grin, but she’d looked away. Then, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, she hadn’t responded to any of his notes. 

 

_ Professor Brunner is really laying it on thick today, isn’t he? I mean, how many times are we actually going to meet dementors in the real world? _

 

_ I’ll bet Frank’s patronus is a puppy. Or a goldfish. Something really embarrassing. _

 

_ If my patronus isn’t a dragon I’m quitting school. _

 

_ Calypso? Are you even reading these? _

 

_ The one day you actually want to pay attention in this class and my material is popping off!  _

 

She just put the notes away in her bag, not looking at them. He frowned. They always passed notes in class when they weren’t sitting next to each other. Then, later, when he met up with their Potions study group in the library, Rachel apologetically slid into her seat a couple of minutes late, claiming that Calypso had a headache and couldn’t make it. Leo looked down at his book, his head spinning. She was definitely avoiding him. She’d probably realized that she smelled him in the Amortentia and was busy throwing herself off of the Astronomy Tower. How could he have been so stupid? Regardless of whether she had feelings for him, she was just out of his league. It was like they weren’t even playing the same sport. He could barely pay attention as Rachel, Thalia, Reyna, and Piper discussed the upcoming Amortentia essay. He was too busy beating himself up. 

After study group, he cornered Rachel. 

“Hey, uh...” he fiddled with the sleeve of his robes, “Is Calypso okay?”

“She’s fine,” Rachel said, her eyes narrowing.

“Okay, cause I don’t know if she’s like, avoiding me, or something, but if you could just talk to her and see if she is, or why, and if I did something wrong or something...”

Rachel cut him off by laughing. 

“Gods, what it with you two? Get some self-esteem.”

“I- what?”

“Listen, yes, she is avoiding you, but it's not for the reason you think. We had a really good talk yesterday in the bath.” Leo nearly choked, banishing images of a wet and naked Calypso from his imagination. “You guys have a lot to talk about, I think.” 

“What do you mean?”

Rachel just winked. “I’ve already said way more than is probably acceptable for the best friend to say. Just... be persistent.”

Leo knew better than to question her. Aside from being one of Calypso’s closest friends, she also had the gift of Sight. She probably knew more about Leo than he knew about himself. 

“Uh, Rachel? Can you just give her something for me?” He handed over a note he’d scribbled during study group, but Rachel just scoffed. 

“No, Leo! Talk to her!”

“How am I supposed to talk to her if she doesn’t want to see me?”

“You’re a Ravenclaw, figure it out.” Rachel turned to go, and shouted over her shoulder, “Call me when you make out!”

Leo flushed deeply, and he could see Piper, Thalia, and Reyna smirking at him from the library table. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked them, scowling. His face was so hot that he felt like it was on fire.

“You and Calypso, huh?” Piper asked, attempting to be casual and failing miserably. Thalia and Reyna snickered. 

“Look, I know it’s ridiculous and I know it sounds insane, but I  _ think  _ she might have feelings for me. But she’s avoiding me, so-”

“Leo, slow down,” Thalia said, her steely eyes glimmering. “It’s not crazy.” 

Leo narrowed his eyes. “What do you know, woman?”

Piper laughed. “Leo, you’d have to be blind to not see that Calypso likes you.”

Reyna nodded, her hand in Thalia’s. They had been all over each other all night, which only made Leo feel worse. How did two people get together? Like, how did two people shift from liking each other to being  _ in a relationship _ ? In Leo’s limited experience with women, it was usually just the other person bossing him around until she got tired of him. He hadn’t needed to make any sort of grand confession to Khione. She’d just decided that they were dating one day. Leo hadn’t complained. After all, at the time, he’d pretty much resigned himself to knowing that Calypso would never like him and wasn’t really in a position to be turning down offers. 

“Even if she does, she’d never want to date me,” Leo said miserably. “She’s out of my league.”

Reyna snorted. “No one’s denying that.”

Piper shot the other Slytherin girl daggers and then folded her hands on the table.

“Look, Leo. You have to stop being so mean to yourself. As much as it pains me to admit, you’re really funny, and kind, and you’re an insanely caring friend. Calypso knows that better than any of us.”

“And you don’t look totally tragic!” Thalia added helpfully. “Like, clearly you’re not exactly my type,” Reyna kissed her on the cheek as if to illustrate her point, “But some people like that rough-and-tumble kind of handsome.”

“Handsome?” Leo echoed, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Why, Ms. Grace, the Bad Boy supreme is yours for the taking, all you had to do was ask.” 

Thalia wrinkled her nose as Piper laughed. 

“Leo, you have to stop holding her up as like, some unattainable goddess. She’s a person, just like you.”

Leo chewed the inside of his mouth, his fingers drumming wildly on the table. 

“Okay,” he finally said halfheartedly, and Piper rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. I think that’s enough ego boosting for one night. It’s almost curfew, let’s go.”

Leo’s major self-esteem issues weren’t going to be fixed by one conversation with his friends. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Leo decided he’d work on himself later. For now, he needed to formulate a real plan. His conversation with Rachel echoed in his ears as he climbed the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower. 

_ You’re a Ravenclaw, _ she’d said,  _ Figure it out. _

As the gears in his mind clicked and whirred, the beginnings to a plan started to form. It was insane, to be sure. And dangerous. But he was a dangerous boy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> give me validation pls
> 
> also if you couldn't tell i absolutely STAN rachel elizabeth dare and i feel like she and calypso would be really good friends


	4. CALYPSO

CALYPSO

It had been an absolutely miserable week. For the most part, she’d successfully avoided Leo, save for an awkward conversation they had when they were paired together for Herbology. She tried to distract herself from his presence by busying herself with the work, but it was like someone had told her there was a bomb under the table. She couldn't focus, just waited for it to blow. By then, he must have known that she was dodging him, but oddly, he didn’t bring it up. When they spoke, it was to ask questions about the assignment or to pass each other tools. They worked in perfect harmony together, saying little. She couldn’t stand it. Before the end of class, as they packed up their things, she ventured a question.

“So, are you excited for the game this weekend?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Leo looked guilty, like she’d caught him at something. 

“You nervous?”

“What?”

“Nervous?” she pressed, wondering why he was acting so weird. Then she mentally berated herself. Of course he was acting weird, he was shocked that she’d broken her silence. He was tense, all the muscles in his shoulders were gathered and his busy hands had gone into overdrive. He avoided her eyes. The too-wide grin that usually adorned his face had been replaced with what seemed to be a pained grimace.

“Um, I guess.”

“Slytherin is a pretty good team. Not as good as Ravenclaw, of course.” he looked at her with a bizarre expression, as if trying to figure her out. To be honest, she didn’t know why she’d started the conversation. Clearly, it was making things worse.

“Did you finish the Amortentia essay?” she decided to ask. 

“Yeah, in study group. You feeling any better, by the way?”

“What?” she said, before realizing that a headache had been her excuse for skipping that night. “I mean, yes. Much better.”

“Good. I mean, that essay has to be really good. To make up for the potion.” he seemed to be testing her, but she wasn’t sure why. 

“I think it actually-” she stopped herself. “Yes.”

He looked around awkwardly, his fingers drumming on the straps of his bag. 

“Okay, well...”

“I have Divination, so...”

“You’d better go. I mean, if you don’t want to miss-”

“Yeah. Um, bye, Leo.” she’d said, and started climbing the hill back up to the castle. The interaction had been so intensely clumsy that she wanted to burst into flames and die right there on the spot. After that, she went back to ignoring him. 

She’d never wanted to push him away but it was easier this way- if he thought that she was just... done with him. Her heart ached at the thought, but she didn’t think that she could handle it if Leo discarded her instead. 

Hey, she never said it was a  _ healthy _ coping mechanism. 

She focused on her schoolwork to ignore her misery, working harder on the one essay than she had on any other in her entire life. She was also a beast at Quidditch practice, surprising everyone. It wasn’t that she was averse to hard work, but she didn’t usually throw herself into the difficult drills with as much gusto as she did that week. They weren’t playing a game anytime soon, in fact, this weekend was Ravenclaw versus Slytherin, but she was treating the practice like it was her last before the House Cup. She ran laps without complaint and did endurance training until her entire body ached. It felt good to be in physical rather than emotional pain. She also reasoned that if she made herself extremely tired, she'd pass out at second her head hit the pillow. The past few nights had been predominantly sleepless, as she'd tossed and turned warring with herself about the whole Leo situation. 

“Good hustle, Calypso,” Percy congratulated her as they walked back to the locker rooms. He’d been Captain for several years now and was a great one at that. 

“Thanks,” she muttered in response. 

“That’s an understatement!” Travis Stoll, one of the Beaters announced. His brother, Conner, the other beater, seemed to agree. 

“You’re a mad lad, Atlas!”

She smiled despite herself. 

On Friday night she joined the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors for a game of exploding snap, which had turned into a drinking game once all of the little kids had gone up to bed. Thalia and Jason were hammered, competing loudly, Percy was buzzed laughing at their competitive antics, and Rachel and Calypso were nursing their firewhiskey slightly out of earshot of the rest of the group.

Rachel chuckled as Jason lost a round and patted out a small fire on his shirt from the explosion. 

“Come on, Calypso, lighten up!”

“I can’t,” Calypso responded moodily. She didn’t like to bring down the fun, but she couldn’t have a good time. There was a lot on her mind. Rachel rolled her eyes. 

“What exactly are you gaining from ignoring Leo?” she asked. Calypso took a sip of her drink. 

“It’s safer this way.”

“For you, or for him?”

“For both of us. At least this way, maybe, in a few months, we can be good friends again.”

Rachel tossed back her firewhiskey. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t give bad advice, Calypso. Gift of Sight and all? Why can’t you just take a chance on him?”

Calypso grimaced uncomfortably. “I don’t-”

“You don’t want to get hurt again. Guess what, Calypso? Love is pain. You have to take a leap of faith. And I’m pretty sure _Leo_ won’t hurt you. The guy has been picking up the pieces of your failed relationships since fourth year.”

“That’s why I can’t tell him how I feel! He knows how horrible I am at relationships- why would he willingly enter into one with me?”

“Maybe it’s a risk he wants to take. Maybe he thinks it’ll be worth it.”

Calypso narrowed her eyes. “Have you... Spoken to him about this?”

Rachel looked at her apologetically. “Maybe a little?”

“Rachel!” Calypso swatted at her friend, who was grinning wickedly. “What did you say?”

“That you’re burning with passion for him and can’t help but be tempted by his shocking dark good looks and idiotic jokes.” Calypso flushed deeply before she realized that her friend was kidding. She glared at her. 

“It’s not funny, Rachel.”

“It is funny. You’re both so... so self-deprecating that you can’t accept the idea that the other person might  _ want  _ to be with you.”

Calypso pondered this for a moment.

“A stab in the dark,” she finally said. “I just have to trust.”

“Exactly.” Rachel said, a slow smile spreading across her face. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy...”

“No.” Calypso breathed, “No, it definitely will not be easy.”

Rachel smiled at her sympathetically. “Come on, have a little fun tonight. Maybe you can tell him after the Quidditch game tomorrow. If he wins, it’ll be like the cherry on top. If he loses, it’ll make him feel better.”

“Or worse.”

“Think positive! And drink!” Rachel laughed, pouring more firewhiskey into their cups. “We have a lot to celebrate!”

“My deterioration into madness?” Calypso intoned drily. Rachel snorted into her glass. 

“Yes. To Calypso’s madness!” she announced, raising her glass into the air. Thalia, Jason, and Percy raised their glasses as well. 

“Who’s going mad?” Thalia grinned sloppily, her eyes dazed.  _ She is going to  _ hate _ herself in the morning _ , Calypso thought. 

“Calypso. She’s in love!” Rachel said loudly, and Calypso flushed deeply.

“Oh Gods, I absolutely can't hear more about this.” Jason groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Leo’s been driving me insane, talking about some sort of insane plan...”

“What?” Calypso said, leaning forward. “Jason, what?”

But Jason had returned to his drunken game of Exploding Snap, and Calypso was left without answers. She turned to meet Rachel’s eyes, but the other girl just shrugged. 

“I don't know anything about a plan. Guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. That Leo's a strange one.” Calypso nodded warily in agreement. 

When Calypso finally fell into bed that night, her head swimming, but one thought pervaded through the rest. She had a small glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time. Maybe things really would work out. Maybe Leo really would want to be with her. As insane as the idea sounded, she couldn’t help but think about what might be. And suddenly, the full force of her feelings for him washed over her in a breathtaking and overwhelming current that knocked all the air out of her lungs. 

She was overwhelmed by images of him: Leo grinning maniacally at her from his broomstick while they chased the snitch together during last year's House Cup, neck in neck; Leo smeared with grease at the hood of the magic car, trying to explain the mechanisms to her; Leo making faces at a mountain of homework; Leo laughing so hard at one of her jokes that pumpkin juice came out of his nose; Leo, Leo, Leo. 

It had been so long since she’d allowed herself to think about her feelings that she’d forgotten how fun it was to love someone, to really love all their little quirks and notice the little things about them. Like the tiny white scars on his face from one too many accidental explosions. How his hands were always busy, tapping, fixing, fiddling. How his mouth was constantly stretched into that lopsided smile that made her heart perform a little tap dance. She couldn’t lie still or close her eyes. She suddenly couldn’t wait for tomorrow, to tell him how she felt. Even though the idea filled her with terror, she knew she couldn’t just keep it inside or let it go. It was about 100 times more intense than anything she’d ever experienced. She was smiling like an idiot in the dark of her room, her face burning, just thinking about him. She  _ had  _ to tell him.

The next morning, she woke up with a small headache. Her mouth tasted terrible, and her hair looked like she'd lost a fight with a hippogriff. But examining her expression in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, she realized that she also looked determined. Of course, she was still afraid. But, she decided, if everything worked out, it would all be worth it.

She just had to take a leap of faith. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 4 lessgo!!!!  
> i wanted some happy grace action in this story because of... yeah :(   
> i'm kind of pretending trials of apollo didn't happen lmfao
> 
> anyways pls comment and give kudos i really appreciate all the nice feedback!!


	5. LEO

LEO

On the day of the game, Leo woke up with a wild sense of anticipation. He usually felt like this before games. But today was different. Today would make or break everything. 

The plan was simple. So simple, that it worried him. There were about a million things that could go wrong, and even more external factors. But he had to go through with it.

If all went well, the plan would force Calypso’s hand. She would have to admit that she cared about him, she would _have_ to see him, and really talk to him. Not like that conversation at the greenhouses. He cringed thinking about it as he put on his blue Quidditch robes. Her speaking to him- that hadn’t been a part of the plan. He'd been so focused on the plan that when she'd addressed him he'd completely frozen up. In retrospect, he probably should have used that opportunity to speak to her, tell her how he felt. Unfortunately, his limited people skills had failed him. Now, today was make or break. Do or die. 

Leo walked down to the Great Hall and scanned the Gryffindor table for Calypso. She was sitting as the far end of the table, chatting animatedly with Rachel, looking like a million galleons in a cerulean jumper. Her bronze hair fell around her shoulders, her neck was decorated with that thin gold jewelry she liked to wear, and her warm eyes glinted with amusement. Perfect. She caught his eye, and he winked at her before she looked down, her cheeks pink. 

Leo swung his legs around the bench and sat at the Ravenclaw table, his back to her. His teammates, Nyssa Barrera, a buff sixth year, Malcolm Pace, Annabeth's younger brother, Cecil Markowitz, Lee Fletcher, and Gwendolyn Quincy, a pretty seventh year were all eating and chatting absently, and though he was sitting next to them, he didn't join in the conversation. He needed to focus on the plan (and not dying.) He  picked at some eggs and sausage, running through the steps of the plan in his head and drumming his fingers on the table. He felt like he’d only been there for a few minutes before the Team Captain, Charles Beckendorf, Leo’s surly roommate, stood and cleared his throat. 

“Let’s go, team.” he intoned, and Leo stood, taking a few last bites of his eggs before following the rest of the team down to the locker rooms. The team's energy grew as the walked and they became excited, chattering loudly and laughing together. Leo smiled along a little, relaxing. 

He’d heard that in the past when House rivalries were still huge at Hogwarts, games were sullen and serious affairs. These days, for the most part, the houses shared friendly rivalries but there was no actual animosity between them. They were adversaries on the pitch and on the pitch alone. That wasn’t why he was wired. He was filled with jitters (more than usual) thinking about what the hell he was going to say to Calypso once he actually got her alone. Somehow, “I’m in love with you,” just didn’t cut it. How could he articulate just how much he appreciated her, noticed her, admired her, thought about her? He figured he’d have time to think about that later. He wasn’t a wordsmith, so he’d have to figure out some other way. He strapped on his knee pads distractedly as the rest of the team changed. 

Nyssa clapped him on the back, shaking him out of his thoughts. Her dark hair was smoothed back with a bandana, and her broom was slung over her shoulder. He rolled his shoulder, trying not to let on how uncomfortable it was. She was strong and hit him much harder than she probably meant to. Or, if she’d caught wind of his plan, maybe she’d hurt him on purpose. 

“You ready, Valdez?” she asked, her lips curling up into a smile. Whew. She didn’t know. Leo plastered a grin on to his face. 

“Let’s do it, Barrera. I was born ready.” 

The team shuffled into the corridor leading from the locker rooms into the pitch. The stands were packed (they always were), and Leo could hear the dull roar of the spectators as the commentator, Silena Beauregard from Gryffindor and Beckendorf's girlfriend, cleared her throat into the microphone. 

“Welcome, everyone to another Quidditch Match. Today is Ravenclaw versus Slytherin!” she announced, and there was another wave of cheers from the stands. Leo gripped his broom, a Firebolt 2020 which he’d affectionately named  _ Festus _ , so hard that his knuckles went white. 

“Please welcome to the field, the Slytherin Team! Nakamura, Victor, Victor, LaRue, Blackstone, Kahale, and their Captain, seventh year Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano!” Silena roared, and there was a chorus of support from the Slytherin stands as their team took to the field. 

“And now, put your hands together for the Ravenclaw Team! Let's hear it for Valdez, Markowitz, Barrera, Fletcher, Quincy, Pace, and their amazingly talented and handsome Captain, seventh year Charles Beckendorf!” Silena cried, and Leo was suddenly jostled forward onto the field. As he marched out onto the pitch, he scanned the audience and barely picked out Calypso in the Gryffindor stands, her hair glinting in the sunlight. It was an unseasonably warm November day, the perfect sort of day for Quidditch and maybe declarations of love. 

“Ms. Beauregard, we’ve discussed this. If you cannot be impartial...” Leo heard Professor Brunner chastising Silena into the microphone, and Silena responded, 

“Totally, Professor, you’re right. Sorry! So now, the totally hot and amazing Ravenclaw Team Captain will shake hands with the Slytherin Team Captain...”

“Ms. Beauregard...”

Reyna and Beckendorf shook hands amicably, the latter looking rather pink as his girlfriend’s commentary, and then all of the players mounted their brooms. Leo liked tinkering with his broom and adding adjustments. Festus was definitely breaking all kinds of codes and regulations- like, Leo would never be able to play in the World Cup on it. But Festus was kind of tricked out, complete with a protective weather bubble for snowy or rainy games, a built-in hands-free dodging charm for rogue bludgers, and a more intuitive steering system than those of the Pegasus 4s that most of the others played on. Of course, Leo couldn’t tell anyone about these little upgrades, not even the rest of his team. He’d be banned from playing and the whole team would lose points. Of course, he’d fixed up Calypso’s broom a little, too, building in the weather shield and the bludger dodging charms. If he was going to beat her (which, to be honest, he rarely did), he wanted to do so fairly. Plus, he wanted her to be safe during games. The thought of a bludger cracking her skull open or harsh winds blowing her off her broom kept him up at night. 

“I want a nice, clean game,” said Madame Nike, the Quidditch referee. “May the winning team bask in the glory of their victory for a thousand years to come! Now, let’s play some Quidditch!” 

Yeah, she may have taken the game a little too seriously. The teams kicked off and soared into the air, and Leo watched the action from above as Malcolm took the quaffle under his arm. 

“And it’s Ravenclaw with the quaffle,” Silena’s voice boomed across the stadium. “Pace passes to Quincy, then she passes back to Pace, and... he shoots, but the score is blocked by Slytherin keeper Avila Ramírez-Arellano. What a mouthful that name is, no offense Reyna! Okay, so Slytherin in possession of the quaffle, Kahale passes to Blackstone, Blackstone passes to La Rue, La Rue shoots... but... OH! Nice offense, Ravenclaw. La Rue is hit by a bludger from Barerra, she drops the quaffle right into Gwen Quincy's hands. La Rue doesn't look happy about that, come on, Clarisse, be a good sport... but now it’s Ravenclaw in possession, Quincy passes to Pace, Pace passes to Fletcher, it’s looking like.. YES! 10 points to Ravenclaw!” 

Leo tuned out the gameplay, simply watching for the snitch. He scanned the field, watching for that little flash of gold. The Slytherin seeker, Ethan Nakamura, was floating a couple of meters above Leo on the other side of the stadium. He meant business. Everyone else saw the game as a fun diversion, but Ethan wanted to go pro and took games way too seriously. If anyone was going to throw a wrench in Leo’s plan, it was Ethan. If they were chasing the snitch neck and neck, it might just ruin the whole thing. And then how would he get Calypso alone?

Before he knew it, Ravenclaw was up 60-40, and Slytherin was in possession. Nyssa and Cecil were hurling bludgers at the Slytherin chasers, but Clarisse almost always scored no sweat. Also, the Slytherin beaters, Laurel and Holly Victor, moved in tandem like a machine. While Ravenclaw probably had the better chasers, and the better individual beaters, the Slytherin beaters worked better together. Eventually, they took Cecil off his broom right after he lobbed a bludger into Reyna’s broom. Though Lee was able to score, putting the score at a neat 70-50, Cecil’s arm was broken.

“THAT’S A FOUL!” Silena screeched into the mic, and Madame Nike nodded solemnly from her ref’s broom. She took the rules very seriously. 

“Penalty to Ravenclaw.” she announced. 

Gwen put away the penalty shot as Master Apollo, the healer, magicked Cecil away on a stretcher. 

Down a player, Ravenclaw stood little chance at winning unless Leo spotted the snitch soon. It wasn’t like winning or losing mattered much to Leo, in fact, it was the furthest thing from his mind right now- but he was anxious to wrap up the game to get to the scariest part of the day.

"Slytherin in possession, La Rue passes to Blackstone, Beckendorf saves it, but, oh no, Kahale was waiting for that... he scores. 70-60 Ravenclaw." Silena said solemnly. Leo swore and started circling the field, searching desperately for the snitch. 

Suddenly, he spotted it flitting around toward the bottom of the stadium near the Slytherin goalpost, almost exactly as he’d planned. Of course, he had no way of tampering with the snitch ahead of the game to make it fly low, but he had a basic understanding of its mechanics. It flew the opposite direction of where the seeker chased it from. Leo had been planning on leading it down but attacking from above, but this made his job considerably easier. He started floating slowly in that direction, like he was just trying to get a better view. Ethan climbed a little higher, trying to see what Leo was seeing, and just when he had Nakamura at a comfortable distance, Leo took off like a lightning bolt, hurling himself toward the snitch. 

“It seems as though Ravenclaw’s seeker, Leo Valdez, has spotted the snitch!” Silena cheered, and there was a roar of approval from the Ravenclaw stands. Leo imagined that Calypso was cheering, too, and tried to focus on that as he streaked down. He was flying at top speed directly toward the grass. He swallowed his terror and sped up, willing Festus to go faster. He felt Ethan Nakamura on his tail, gaining on him. Ethan was the real deal, he kept up with Leo, edging his way up towards him. Leo just kept going, grazing the snitch with his fingers just slightly. He wasn’t quite close enough to the ground and kept flying. Ethan hesitated, pulling back a little. Clearly, they were getting too close to the ground for comfort. Leo took this edge and pulled ahead. This was close enough, he decided. 

As Ethan pulled out of the dive, Leo lunged forward off of his broom, successfully closing his fingers around the snitch, and braced himself for impact. Exactly as planned, but he didn't have time to congratulate himself. Because what he hadn’t accounted for was Laurel (or was it Holly?) hurling a bludger at him in a last ditch attempt to stop his trajectory. Since he'd jumped off of his broom, Festus' anti-bludger defenses were useless to him, and before he could turn himself around to dodge it, the ball hit his ribs with a sickening crack. He tumbled to the grass and felt a sharp, blinding pain blossoming in his chest. Dazed, he rolled onto his back, coughing intensely and spluttering as blood filled his mouth. 

He'd planned for a short fall from his broom and onto the pitch. He figured he might break his arm, or maybe twist his ankle. Something that Apollo could heal in an evening. Something worrying enough that Calypso would have to come to visit him in the Hospital wing, but not painful enough that it would seriously take him out of commission. Unfortunately...

_ I think I broke my ribs,  _ Leo thought with vague interest. The pain was so bad it was like he’d floated outside his body and was watching someone else experience it in a movie. His teammates all landed and swarmed him, Apollo waved them all out of the way, Madame Nike was furiously reprimanding Holly (Laurel?), as was Reyna, Silena was screaming about Ravenclaw’s win from the commentator’s booth, and several of Leo’s friends had flooded onto the field, including Calypso. She pushed past Jason and Piper, she almost knocked Nico down, and as she keeled at his side, her soft brown eyes welled with concern. 

_ This is going to hurt in the morning, _ he thought. And then everything went black. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, there's chapter 5 lmao  
> sorry to end on a cliffhanger but i'm actually not sorry at all so there you go ahahah  
> anyways please make sure to leave kudos and review if you like the story, i really appreciate all of the nice comments so keep em coming!


	6. CALYPSO

CALYPSO

Calypso had been expecting for Leo to do something stupid. She’d wondered if he’d tampered with the snitch, maybe, so that it would hover near the Gryffindor stands and he could fly near her. She’d speculated that perhaps he’d loudly confess feelings for her just after catching the snitch. Maybe he’d wait until the after party in the Room of Requirement and make something ridiculous appear, like mistletoe, though Christmas was still a month away. Definitely nothing as stupid as what he actually did.

As she watched him execute a perfect Wronski Feint, she knew that he had something incredibly idiotic in the works. She’d gasped when he’d leaped from his broom to catch the snitch, but some part of her knew that that made sense. 

_ That is so Leo, _ she thought to herself, almost smacking herself on the head.  _ Of course, she’d have to visit him in the Hospital Wing, now _ . It was a simple and ingenious plan. If it had been executed flawlessly, it would have worked great. She would have been a little miffed at the manipulation, but still ready to talk nonetheless. 

But when that bludger hit him in the ribs, with a crunch that had echoed throughout the stadium... that knocked the wind out of Calypso. She was frozen in terror, and the moment seemed to slow- like the game had suddenly been moved into the Black Lake. She watched in rapt horror as Leo crumbled to the ground, and her vision went white. 

Suddenly, the world lifted itself up and shook itself off like a dog after a bath. She shoved people out of the way to reach him on the field. He’d taken a great risk to catch that snitch. It was still closed in his hands, she could see it even from the front row of the stands. She leaped over the barrier, landed awkwardly on her feet, and ignored the shooting pains from her ankle as she tore across the field to the small crowd that was gathering around him. From her lower vantage point, she could no longer see him, and her desperation to be at his side increased tenfold. 

Later, people would inform her that she pushed Piper and Jason out of the way, and when Nico and his boyfriend, Will Solace, tried to stop her and calm her down, she blew them off with such force that Nico fell backward onto his ass. She didn’t care, she had to get to Leo. 

She was at his side in an instant. His eyes were open and glassy. There was blood around his mouth, but it still formed a weak grin. He seemed like he was going to say something, but then his eyes slid shut and his entire body relaxed in her arms as if he’d suddenly been Transfigured into a rag doll. 

“Leo!” she screamed, but he’d gone unconscious. She pressed her ear up against his chest and listened to the dull, slow heartbeat pounding in his ribs. Quickly, she dashed tears out of her eyes as she conjured up a stretcher for him. Apollo arrived on the scene and stopped, watching with mild interest. 

“Do you have healing magic?” he asked, kneeling to check Leo’s pulse. 

“Does it matter? Get him to the hospital wing, he’s hurt!” she responded shrilly. Calypso became aware that all of their friends, plus the entire Ravenclaw team and most of the Slytherin one as well was watching. Calypso scrambled to her feet awkwardly as Apollo levitated Leo onto the stretcher with the help of Will Solace and Piper put a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Hey,” she said soothingly. “Leo’s been banged up pretty bad before. He’ll be okay.”

“Him and his stupid plan,” Calypso muttered angrily as Apollo started marching the stretcher up to the castle. Piper laughed despite herself. 

“Yeah, this wasn’t his best. He was just trying to get you to talk to him.”

“This is my fault,” Calypso sobbed. Suddenly, Rachel was at her side too, and they all started following Apollo as they trudged up the hill and past the greenhouses. 

“Nah. Laurel was the one who hit that bludger. And besides, he didn’t have to go to such... extreme lengths, but he did anyway. If he’d just waited until after the game, you would have talked to him anyway.” Calypso didn’t respond. A small sprinkling of rain started to fall from up above, which quickly turned into a downpour. There were a lot of downfalls to living in Scotland, and this was definitely one of them.  _ Great, _ Calypso thought.  _ The weather is reflecting my moods, now.  _

“ _ Impervius, _ ” Will Solace muttered, the spell effectively protecting Leo from the rain. Calypso didn’t have enough energy to do it herself, but she felt like she wanted to be nearer to him. She jogged up to the stretcher and took Leo’s limp hand into her own, running her thumb over his calloused knuckles. Piper and Rachel shared a significant look as Apollo griped about carrying two kids up the hill to the hospital on the same day. 

By the time they reached the hospital wing, they were soaking wet from the rain. Leo slipped into consciousness again as Calypso, Will Solace, and Master Apollo moved him into one of the beds. Rachel and Piper were talking to Cecil Markowitz a few beds down, so Calypso sat down at the side of the bed and studied Leo expectantly. As he stirred, he winced in pain, and his free hand moved to his chest.

“That didn’t go as planned,” he mumbled to himself, sucking in a sharp breath as he tested his ribs. Calypso rolled her eyes.

“That was, by far, the dumbest thing I have ever seen you do. And I watched you tie Headmaster Zues’ shoelaces together in third year.”

Leo’s eyes snapped open, and that smug grin spread across his face. 

“Sunshine! Glad you joined the party!”

Calypso smiled back at him despite herself. 

“Yes, well. Don’t congratulate yourself yet. Tonight is going to be a long night. You have a lot of bones to mend.”

“Don’t remind me.”

There was a bustle from behind as the entire Ravenclaw Quidditch team exploded into the hospital wing, followed closely by Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna, each of them looking like they’d just climbed out of the lake. Everyone was talking very loudly amongst themselves, a few of them sputtering in indignation at Leo’s stunt, some laughing, some complaining about the sudden downpour, and some (Nico) stoically surveying the scene. Jason reached them first. His shoes and jeans were splattered with mud, and his blonde hair dripped water down his face. 

“Dude, I told you the plan would not work.” he was grinning, and Calypso realized that she was still holding Leo’s hand. She blushed and dropped it. 

“Yeah man, it was fine until that stupid bludger...”

“Wait, fill me in on the plan?” Piper cut in curiously, coming seemingly out of nowhere and looping her arm through Jason’s. She looked between Leo and Calypso with growing interest. 

“Maybe later,” Leo replied uncomfortably. 

“Dude, great catch!” Beckendorf was beaming. “Sorry about your ribs though.”

“I’ve had worse,” Leo chuckled and then flinched, his hand flying up to his chest again. “Okay, maybe not.”

Everyone stayed for a while longer, laughing and joking and rehashing the game. It smelled like a swamp in the Hospital Wing- between the stench of several teenage athletes post-game, the mud that was soaking everyone’s shoes, and the drenched clothes, but in general, the mood was jovial. Even Reyna admitted that she was impressed by Leo’s maneuver, though she did scold him for doing something so dangerous on purpose. Cecil, who remained a few beds down nursing his broken arm, joined in on the fun and laughed as their friends did a full-scale reenactment of the whole Wronski Feint situation, starring Percy as Leo, Frank as Nike, Jason as the bludger, Piper as Laurel Victor, and Hazel as Ethan Nakamura, which had everyone in stitches. Beckendorf regaled Leo will the full extent of Laurel’s punishment for the foul (cleaning the trophy room without magic every month for the rest of the year), and Nyssa brought Leo’s broom up from the field, which, aside from a few scrapes in the polished wood handle (it had crashed into the Gryffindor stands), was fine. Calypso found her spirits lifting, and not just by everyone’s silly mood. Leo kept sneaking glances at her, and though she was still worried about him, he seemed like he was going to be okay. His lungs hadn’t been punctured, thank goodness. A few broken bones could be easily handled. She relaxed and joined in the merriment. Then, once Apollo had prepared the potion for Leo’s bone mending, Will Solace, who was acting as the assistant healer, kicked them all out.

“Mending bones is a PRIVATE process, people,” he said, though he was still smiling good-naturedly. He kissed Nico on the cheek, muttering “See you at lunch,” and then the whole group waved goodbye and disappeared through the double doors. Rachel was the last to go and shot Calypso an encouraging glance before shutting the doors behind her, leaving the Hospital wing in silence. 

Will would later insist that he let Calypso stay because she knew a few healing spells, but she was unhelpful as Apollo and his assistant removed Leo’s Quidditch robes and shirt, applied the potion to his ribs and wrist (broken in the fall), and cast a few spells for the pain. She just watched, trying not to let her eyes fall on his bare chest, which was a lot more defined than it had been when they were thirteen swimming in the lake on the last day of classes. She flushed and focused on Leo, who was cracking jokes even as he must have been, at the very least, extremely uncomfortable from the pain. 

“Did you go swimming without me?” he said, gesturing to her wet hair and clothes. “Not cool, Sunshine, you know I never miss the chance to see my long-lost lover the giant squid.” She laughed more than she probably should have and squeezed his hand. 

Then, when they were finished, Will went off to eat some lunch, and though Apollo insisted that Calypso should go too, Will convinced him to allow her to stay. Cecil had rolled over in his bunk to get some rest. Apollo disappeared into his office. 

And then they were alone. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh! another cliffhanger lmao sorry not sorry, hopefully, it was a slightly less unpleasant one.
> 
> also shoutout to alex, who found this account without even trying. if you're reading this, you don't deserve rights and THAT's that on that.


	7. LEO

LEO

“So.. what is this I hear about some plan?” Calypso asked, cutting through the silence which hung thick in the room like a dense fog. Leo winced, though not out of pain. When he’d imagined this scene in his head, he had heroically executed the plan and was now braving the pain of a broken arm with her at his side. Instead, he’d passed out and woken up to a group of their friends roasting him for about 20 minutes straight. His confidence was somewhat waning, but he gathered up the scraps and pushed forward. 

“Has everyone heard about it?” he replied meekly. She giggled. 

“Only me, Rachel, Thalia, Jason, Piper, Will, the house-elves, the painting of that insane knight on the fourth floor...”

“Okay, okay, enough. I get it. Let me explain,” Leo said, attempting to appear casual. “So I had this plan.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well..." he paused, collecting his thoughts, which was difficult because his blood was pounding in his ears that he could barely hear himself speak. He decided to start at the beginning. "You know the Amortentia?”

“I’m familiar.”

“So, I don’t know. When we brewed it... I mean, after that day, you were kind of... avoiding me. And I knew I had to pull something drastic to get you to talk to me. Because I really need to tell you something.”   


Calypso drew in a sharp breath. “Yes?”

Leo grimaced. “This conversation was much easier in theory.” She laughed. 

“Can I tell  _ you _ something?”

“Shoot.”

“Okay... well, um. I was avoiding you for a reason.”

Leo’s mouth went dry. Here it was. The rejection. He figured that she’d pieced together his plan and was now getting ready to turn him down. They were better off as friends, she was disgusted by him, she’d rather make out with a hinkypunk, all the usual things girls said to him. He braced himself. 

“Cool.” he managed to say. She didn’t meet his eyes. 

“It's not... okay. Well I was freaked out because I... I smelled...” she shook her head as if to release some nerves. “I mean... in the Amortentia, I didn’t realize it at first, but... I think. I mean, I know, I smelled. Ugh, this is impossible. Can you please stop looking at me?”

Her face was pink, and her hair was damp from the rain, clinging to her face. She had faint mascara lines running down her cheeks, and her hands were dirty from the grass and mud. She looked so amazing in that moment that he couldn’t imagine looking away- but he reluctantly closed his eyes. 

“Um, better?”

He heard her exhale. “Yes. Well, in the potion, I smelled engine oil. And smoke, and your cheap awful cologne. And at the time, I wouldn’t let myself admit it because it was too scary, so I pretended like I thought that the potion didn’t work, and I almost even convinced myself but... I smelled tabasco sauce, too. Leo, I smelled you.”

His stomach turned over, and he fought to keep his eyes closed. His good hand fiddled with the sheets. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He was pretty sure that if he opened his mouth he’d start whooping victoriously and spouting annoying compliments at her, or worse, he’d do something stupid like kiss her, so he stayed silent. Besides, she seemed like she had more to say. He fought to keep his eyes closed. 

“And I guess, well, I panicked. Because I’m not good at relationships. They never work out, and I always get hurt. And I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you just because I fell in... I mean, because I have feelings for you. So I decided to avoid you. But I’m through with hiding. So, I understand if, if you don’t feel the same, but yeah. I kind of have a huge crush on you, Leo.” she finished. He felt like he was floating into the ceiling. Maybe he’d hallucinated for a minute. But when he opened his eyes, she was looking expectantly at him, her big brown eyes so deep that he could have swum in them. His breath caught in his throat, and in an impulsive instinctual moment, he lurched forward to hold her- promptly falling back onto the pillows moaning in pain.

“Ouch,” he said thickly. He heard her giggle lightly and then he looked up to meet her eyes again. “That was dumb.”

“Somehow, not the dumbest thing you’ve done today.”

He grinned. “Calypso, you wanna know what I smelled in that stupid potion?”  She nodded, and he continued, “Cinnamon, jasmine and honeysuckle, and beef stew, from the Christmas feasts, and the quidditch field. I smelled you, too. And it kind of confirmed my worst fears, because I realized, that like, I’ve had a crush on you since forever, but I thought you’d never feel the same way. Because...” he gestured vaguely toward himself, and then towards her. 

“I mean, come on. But then I started to suspect that you smelled me in the Amortentia, and when you started avoiding me I thought you were like, disgusted by the idea of being with me. So I came up with the plan, when like, I probably should have just tried harder to talk to you, but it doesn’t matter. Because now, I know you like me back, and that’s awesome, because I’ve wanted to be with you for so long, seriously, since before Khione.” she exhaled and looked like she wanted to say something, but he needed to finish his speech. He hadn’t quite gotten through all of his talking points, yet. 

“Also, I don’t care about those other guys, they were losers for not appreciating you, and you’re never getting rid of  _ me _ . Because I’m seriously in love with you.” the words escaped before he could stop them, but before he had time to regret it, she was hugging him so tightly that he thought she might break a few more of his ribs. He didn’t want the moment to end- her cinnamon hair was overwhelming his senses and it felt so right with her up against him- but he was also in immense pain. 

“Ouch,” he said again, and she pulled back. 

“Sorry,” she said breathily, wiping away some tears. He reached out and brushed them away with his thumb, feeling how warm her skin was under his fingers. “I mean, I love you too.”

“Really?” Leo’s heart was pounding so hard that he thought it might explode. Her eyes were so full of emotion that he almost died on the spot. 

“Well, yes, of course! I’m only sorry it took me so long to realize that you’re... it. You’re it for me.”

He was smiling so wide that his face hurt, but it was okay because the hottest girl in school had a matching goofy grin and she was  _ in love with him _ and he thought that there was absolutely no way that this day could get any better until she leaned in again and brushed her lips against his. 

The kiss was tentative at first, but when he moved his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her closer, she moaned against his mouth, sending tingles down his spine. She tilted her head to the side, deepening the kiss, and he bravely teased his tongue against her lips. She opened her mouth and slid her tongue across his, and he responded by nipping at the corner of her mouth. She moaned again and moved closer, running her hands up his chest. His hand trailed down her back and landed on her waist, but she moved it further down still, and he made a sort of embarrassing strangled noise in the back of his throat. 

She kissed and sucked at his pressure point, no doubt leaving a mark, and he ran his teeth across her earlobe. His entire body was humming- her damp hair fell down around his face like a curtain and enveloped him in her cinnamon smell, the same one from the potion, and her warm mouth against his was like, the best feeling in the entire world. Unfortunately, she tried to swing her leg over his hips to straddle him, but in the process, she kneed him in the ribs. He swore loudly into her neck. 

“Oh my Gods, I’m so sorry.” She said, pulling back and covering her face with her hands. “That was so stupid, I just got wrapped up in... and I forgot...”

“Hey, Sunshine, you never EVER have to apologize for making out with me.” he replied, still dazed. “Gods, these stupid ribs. I am going to KILL Laurel Victor.”

She giggled in response, and then cuddled up next to him on the bed. He put his good arm around her, and she placed her head gingerly on his shoulder. 

“I’ll help.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :*) we love some lovestruck nerds tbh  
> if ya'll want more or like an epilogue or something pls lmk. i was thinking about starting a whole series based around this au bc i'm always a slut for hogwarts aus.   
> anyways hey! this is all I had planned so consider it the tentative ending! thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave kudos and stuff i really appreciate it. 
> 
> as always, give me more comments because validation is my lifeblood. lmk what ya'll want to see next!


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